A drink before bed wouldn’t help you sleep

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Why is alcohol so bad for sleep apnea?

Like certain medications, alcohol relaxes muscles in the body. If those muscles happen to be in the back of your mouth and you have sleep apnea, you have trouble. The muscles relax and block the airway. Well, the airway is blocked anyway, so why not drink? Well, if you eliminated alcohol the airway might not be as blocked or not blocked at all. Stopping drinking is better than trying to get used to a CPAP machine or a dental device.

Alcohol is also bad for sleeping for other reasons, such as messing with your normal sleep patterns. It is true that a few drinks before you go to bed make it easier to fall asleep. But it will inhibit your ability to fall back asleep if you wake in the middle of the night. And as with alcoholics, the more you drink the harder it is fall asleep because the alcohol isn’t as effective as a sedative as it is with a causal drinker.

 An article in the Daily Mail suggested that red wine had melatonin in it, which is a natural sleep aid. A shot of whisky can also be beneficial before bed as well. In fact, I had an uncle who drank a shot every night before he went to bed, and he lived a long life. Supposedly, the whiskey helped with his circulation. I don’t know if that is true or not.  However, a new study suggests that any drinking before sleeping or a nightcap doesn’t help you fall asleep. In fact, it probably does the opposite.
 
 

According to Webmd.com “A new review of 27 studies shows that alcohol does not improve sleep quality. According to the findings, alcohol does allow healthy people to fall asleep quicker and sleep more deeply for a while, but it reduces (REM) sleep.”

The article goes on to say that the more you drink, the worse your sleeping will be; of course, that certainly makes sense to anyone who has gone overboard with their drinking and then tried to go to bed.

Some folks may dispute this and say that they do indeed fall asleep faster after having a few drinks, but the real problem is that it affects the quality of sleep, which in turn makes you more tired the next day. So, booze is definitely not a good sleep aid.

If you have sleep apnea then you certainly know that alcohol is a terrible idea at bedtime. Your apnea will be considerably worse at night, and the next day, you will be walking around like a zombie. Sleeping pills are also to be avoided if you have sleep apnea as well.


Thanks

Comments

  1. PamJanuary 24, 2013 at 4:00 PM

    I stopped drinking pretty much all together when I found out I had sleep apnea. Just the fear of passing out and the fact that I stop breathing just did not settle well in my mind!

    ReplyDelete
  2. David StillwagonJanuary 24, 2013 at 6:38 PM

    Hi Pam
    I know that is one of the reasons I don't drink either! thanks for the comment
    David

    ReplyDelete

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